CHRYSTLER'S FARM, Battle of, the most discreditable American defeat, as Chip pewa was the most brilliant victory, of the War of 1812, was fought 11 Nov. 1813. The expedi tion prepared in the summer and fall of 1813 at Sackett's Harbor, on Lake Ontario, to de scend the Saint Lawrence and capture Mon treal, started 17 October under bad auspices. Aside from insufficient resources and the late ness of the season, the personnel was hopeless. The commander-in-chief alone would have ruined it. This was Maj.-Gen. James Wilkin son, termed by Scott "an unprincipled imbecile," a mere cunning jobber, of neither military talent, firmness nor even character to be re spected, and depised by all the other officers. He had been appointed for the curious reason that New Orleans was not thought safe in his hands. Furthermore, he was prostrated with lake fever, as was his second in command, Morgan Lewis. Boyd, the third, was so in competent that Jacob Brown, the one able fighting general, had threatened to leave the army rather than serve under him. Men can not fight without leaders. The flotilla, battered by contrary winds, began the descent of the river 5 November. From this on, the British made progress slow and dangerous. Captain Mulcaster, an able and daring naval officer, with several gunboats, harassed the rear, and 800 regular infantry co-operated with him, pouring musketry and artillery fire on the expedition from the opposite bank whenever possible, be sides the batteries at Prescott. Brown's and Macomb's brigades were landed on that side to clear the road; and by 10 November the flotilla had reached the Long Sault, and anchored for the night at Chrystler's Farm on the Canadian side. The next morning Brown marched down beside the rapids with his brigade, and Boyd was ordered to take the rest of the troops, some 2,000, with six field pieces, and guard the rear.
Brown reported all clear, and the fleet was about to run the rapids when Boyd reported that the enemy was advancing in order of battle. Wil kinson was sick in bed and could give no or ders; so was Lewis; and Boyd was left to fight his own battle. He did it as a weak commander usually does, by detachments, which the British crushed in detail, though they had but 800 against 2,000. The battle lasted from about 2:30 to 4:30, when General Covington was killed and his brigade driven hack in disorder. Then the whole American line gave way and retreated in haste. Wilkinson reported 102 killed and 2.37 wounded, and the British claim to 100 Amer ican prisoners is more likely to be true than Wilkinson's report of none. The British re ported 22 killed, 148 wounded and 12 missing. The American troops hurriedly re-embarked ; the next morning the flotilla ran the rapids to Cornwall. There Wilkinson learned that his colleague, Wade Hampton, had ended opera tions for the season (see CHATEA UGAY ), and at once went into winter quarters. Consult Henry Adams,
choo-he, Chinese scholar and philosopher: b. 1130; d. 1200. As a student of the Chinese classics, he became widely known through his interpretation of the doctrines of Confucius, and became one of the founders of the Chinese school of speculative philosophy. He had a large number of disciples among the scholars, and they, under his direction, com piled a history of China in 59 books, which is still a standard work.